Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Identity Thief’ Steals $36 Million

Is Melissa McCarthy a movie star yet? The opening weekend of ‘Identity Thief‘ suggests that yes, she is. After all, all of those people weren’t flocking to this movie because of Jason Bateman (as delightful as he is). Anyway, all of this pretty much means that McCarthy’s asking price just doubled.

Film

Weekend

Per Screen

1

Identity Thief

$36,593,000

$11,650

$36,593,000

2

Warm Bodies

$11,500,000 (-43.5)

$3,822

$36,652,000

3

Side Effects

$10,015,000

$3,845

$10,015,000

4

Silver Linings Playbook

$6,908,000 (-10.7)

$2,459

$90,002,000

5

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

$5,750,000 (-39.0)

$1,750

$43,833,000

6

Mama

$4,323,000 (-34.4)

$1,615

$64,046,000

7

Zero Dark Thirty

$4,000,000 (-22.7)

$1,561

$83,600,000

8

Argo

$2,500,000 (+23.2)

$1,779

$123,734,000

9

Django Unchained

$2,288,000 (-23.8)

$1,523

$154,501,000

10

Bullet to the Head

$1,980,000 (-56.5)

$824

$8,171,000

With $36 million over the weekend, ‘Identity Thief’ has the highest opening gross of 2013 so far and if audiences actually like the movie and spread the word, it has a pretty clear shot at $100 million. For the record, that opening is higher than ‘Bridesmaids’ and director Seth Gordon’s previous film, ‘Horrible Bosses,’ so expect everyone involved to be in a little more demand in the coming year. Not bad at all for a movie that your own Jordan Hoffman despised with a burning and intense passion.

Last week’s victor, ‘Warm Bodies‘ slipped to the number two spot $11.5 million. That’s a big drop but not a devastating one. With $36 million grossed so far, it’ll probably end up somewhere in the vicinity of $60 million, which is exactly where this one needs to be in order to turn a profit.

The week’s other major release, Steven Soderbergh’s ‘Side Effects‘ opened with a limp $10 million in third place, a far cry from the box office smash that was ‘Magic Mike’ last year. However, that’s how Soderbergh operates, pumping out hits and misses with stunning regularity. Well, at least he used to, since he’s retired now…but let’s see how long that lasts.

In fourth place, ‘Silver Linings Playbook‘ took a tiny drop and grossed $6 million, putting it within spitting distance of $100 million. Like ‘Argo‘ and ‘Lincoln,’ the awards season have given this thing impressive legs. Speaking of ‘Argo,’ Ben Affleck’s Oscar favorite re-entered the top ten this week, grossing $2.5 million for a $123 million total. If it nabs the Best Picture Oscar and gets expanded again, it may have the legs to reach $150 million. And while we’er on the topic of Oscar contenders, ‘Zero Dark Thirty‘ held on well, grossing $4 million for an $83 million total. With a little luck, it should crack $100 million.

And then there’s the rest.

‘Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters’ did its thing, which was to not be spectacular in any way but still somehow surpass expectations. ‘Mama’ continued to truck along, becoming one of the biggest horror hits in some time. ‘Django Unchained’ broke $150 million and looks ready to leave the top ten. And ‘Bullet to the Head’ broke $8 million and looks ready to leave planet earth.

‘A Good Day to Die Hard’ opens next week, so expect that to break the streak of R-rated action movies opening poorly in 2013.

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